INAUGURATION OF DR. WOOD 



AS 



PRESIDENT OF HANOVER COLLEGE, IKD. 



C. Shurnian & Sou, Printers, Philadelphia. 



D 2101 
H849 
859 
opy 1 



EXERCISES 



CONNECTED WITH THE 



INAUGURATION OF REV. JAMES WOOD, D.D., 

/ 



PRESIDENT OF HANOVER COLLEGE, IND. 



August 3d, 1859. 




PUBLISHED BY THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES. 







J PHILADELPHIA: 
C. SHERMAN & SOI, PRINTERS, 

CORNER SEVENTH AND CHERRY STREETS. 

1859. 



*••■ 



■vv 



NOTE. 

In the absence of Col. James Blake, President of the Board of Trustees, 
the keys were delivered to the President elect by the Hon. W. M. Dunn, 
member of the Board, accompanied by the following charge. 



ADDRESS 



DELIVERED BY 



HON. W. M. DUNK 

TO THE REV. JAMES WOOD, D.D., 

ON THE OCCASION OP DR. WOOD'S INAUGURATION AS PRESI- 
DENT OP HANOVER COLLEGE, INDIANA.* 



Dr. Wood : The Board of Trustees of this institution, in the 
absence of their President, have devolved upon me the duty of ap- 
pearing as their representative on this occasion, to formally induct 
you into the office of President of Hanover College. 

The unanimity with which the Board elected you to this respon- 
sible office, the cordiality with which your associates of the Faculty 
have welcomed you to their counsels, and the favour and hopefulness 
with which your election and acceptance have been received by the 
patrons and friends of the College, are occasion for profound 
thankfulness on the part of the Board, and no doubt of comfort 
and encouragement to you. In calling you to the Presidency of 
this institution, for the proper management of the affairs of which 
we stand responsible to the Church and the public, we Trustees 
have signified, in the most unmistakable manner, our confidence in 
your qualifications for the position. It is because we have con- 
fidence in yolir Christian character, in the soundness of your judg- 
ment, in your literary attainments, and also, because we believe that 
you will faithfully endeavour to discharge every duty devolved upon 
you, that we have elected you to this position of great trial, but, as 
we hope, of greater usefulness. 

You having accepted this office, and appearing here to-day, in 
compliance with our wishes, to assume its duties, I now, as the 
representative of this Board of Trustees, deliver to you these 
keys of our college edifice, as emblematic of the authority with 
which we clothe you, and present you to the public as the Presi- 
dent of Hanover College. 

[Dr. "Wood, on receiving the keys, made a brief response, expressing his hope 
that he might be able to fulfil the just expectations of the Trustees in discharging 
the duties of the office, of which those keys were an appropriate emblem.] 

You need no words from me to impress on your mind a proper 
sense of the responsibilities of the trust you have now assumed. 

* August 3d, 1859. 



You know the work whereunto you are called. The Board has not 
deceived you as to the circumstances, the embarrassments of this 
College of our Church. You know full well the history of its trials 
during its existence of now more than a quarter of a century. You 
know that we have been wandering in the wilderness " lo these 
many years." Who knoweth but thou art the Joshua that is to 
lead us across the Jordan into the promised land? At any rate, 
I will adopt this day and apply to you as appropriate to this occa- 
sion, the language which Moses, in the sight of all Israel, addressed 
to Joshua : " Be strong and of good courage ; and the 

Lord, he it is that doth go before thee; he will be with thee, he 
will not fail thee, neither forsake thee ; fear not, neither be dis- 
mayed." 

From this college edifice, " beautiful for situation as Mount 
Zion," we now look down upon the Ohio, flowing in its peaceful 
course, without a murmur, and almost without a ripple on its quiet 
surface. That river has had its flood-time, when its swollen waters 
could have floated the commerce of the world. It has had its sum- 
mer droughts, when the fountains of its supply, in mountain and 
valley, were well-nigh dried up; when the great red sun, day after 
day, poured down upon its bosom its fervid rays, drinking up its 
waters and laying bare its depths. It has had its autumn mists 
and fogs, filling its valley from hill top to hill top, and burying it 
from sight. It has had its winter, when its chilled waters were 
locked in icy chains, and, to the eye, it moved not, but was dead. 
But look! there it is to-day, a constant, ever useful stream, wind- 
ing its peaceful course through the beautiful hills of the lovely land- 
scape before us. Like to these are the vicissitudes through which 
this College has passed. It has had its flood-time of prosperity, 
when students crowded its halls, so that there was not room to 
receive them. It has had its summer droughts, when its resources 
were exhausted; and its autumn, when gloom and discouragement 
as a cloud enveloped it. It has had its winter, too, cold and dreary, 
when it stiffened in the fierce frost. Then its enemies exclaimed, 
"It is dead!" and its friends, with hands hanging down in sorrow, 
answered, "It is dead; it is dead!" But yet, Hanover Col- 
lege lives. It is a thing of life, like that beautiful river. The 
fathers, who planted it in faith and prayer, have all passed, or are 
soon to pass, away. Their sons have arisen in their places, to 
cherish with affection and love the tree which the fathers planted. 
And thus we trust it shall be from generation to generation, and 
that so long as that river shall flow, marking its course by the ver- 
dure of its banks and the fruitfulness of its valleys and hills, so 
long shall this College remain, marking its course in the history of 
our race, by the rich blessings it shall confer on mankind. 

I shall not be guilty of the presumption of undertaking to instruct 
you in the duties of your presidency; but as the representative of 
this Board of Trustees, will make, for your consideration, a few 



suggestions. You know this College was founded for the promotion 
of Christian education, and while it was intended that students 
should here be qualified for usefulness in every walk of life, yet 
the chief object of this institution is to educate young men for the 
ministry of the Word. The course of instruction here pursued, 
and all the influences about this College, should tend, mainly, to the 
accomplishment of the chief object of its foundation. And, in my 
humble judgment, in no profession is thoroughness of education so 
essential to usefulness as in the Gospel ministry. In the great 
conflicts of opinion constantly agitating the Church and the State, 
the victory does not depend upon the numbers engaged on either 
side, but upon the powers of a few well-educated, energetic thinkers. 
Mind rules the world. It wields the spear of celestial temper that, 
piercing error, makes it 

" Writhe in pain, 
And die among its worshippers." 

The pen has more power than the sword, and the tongue of the 
orator is mightier than legions of soldiers. We look to you, sir, 
and to your associate instructors, to see to it that the young men 
who graduate at this College shall not only have their minds well 
stored with useful knowledge, but that they also shall be industrious, 
searchers after truth, having minds disciplined to investigation, and 
capable of clothing their thoughts in words of power, that they 
may prove men of might in the battles of life, of whom " one shall 
chase a thousand, and two shall put ten thousand to flight." 

We want also earnest men, men of strong convictions of right 
and duty ; men who in the exigencies of the state, would, if need be, 
sacrifice their lives and their fortunes in defence of human rights ; 
and men in the Church, so grounded in the faith, so imbued with 
Christian principles, that they would "stand up for Jesus," though 
the furnace of persecution should be heated for them, " one seven 
times more than it was wont to. be heated." 

Not only is your position, as President of this College one of 
high responsibility, but it is also one of high honour. It is highly 
honourable, because it may be made highly useful. There is power 
in it. You are here brought into contact with the minds of young 
men at the most impressible period. Act upon them, influence 
them, and they in turn shall act upon and influence other minds, 
and these again others, in a still widening circle, extending through 
space, and continuing through eternity. What a fearful power is 
here ! Thoughts may fall from your lips in tones that shall vibrate 
forever. The sun, with his pencil of light, paints an image on 
the face of the burnished metal. That image shall fade ; that ob- 
ject shall perish; that sun shall cease to shine; but the impres- 
sion you make on the mind's ethereal essence is as imperishable as 
the soul itself. 

With such solicitude and yet such cheerful trust as a father con- 



6 

fideth the daughter of his love to the husband of her choice and of 
his approval, do we Trustees now commit to your keeping the in- 
terests of this College. You are now "the man of the house," 
the head of this family of professors, tutors, and students, and the 
public will hold you mainly responsible for the proper and efficient 
administration of its internal affairs. Sustained as you will be by 
able and experienced professors, we trust you will, without diffi- 
culty, maintain wholesome discipline, and furnish thorough instruc- 
tion. Fathers, from far and near, will come here with their sons 
and commit them to your care to be educated for usefulness in life. 
And the widowed mother will also come, leading by her hand the 
son "whom her soul loveth," and with prayers and tears will ask 
you to be a father to that son in the perils and temptations of his 
youth, and to educate him for the duties of time and the realities of 
eternity. These youths are the blocks of marble from the quarry, 
to be by you and your assistant instructors worked and fashioned into 
forms of manly strength and beauty. 

After a time, these fathers and mothers will return to receive at 
your hands these sons whom they have committed to your guardian- 
ship. Let not their just expectations be disappointed. Return to 
them their sons, so educated, physically, morally, religiously, and in- 
tellectually, that whether they shall become great men or not, they 
shall at least be good and useful men. 

In conclusion, let me say, for your encouragement, that you will 
be sustained in the difficulties and responsibilities of your new posi- 
tion by the counsels of this Board of Trustees, by the sympathy 
and co-operation of these Professors, by the friendly interest of 
those who have been educated at this College and are now scattered 
throughout the land, occupying positions of influence and useful- 
ness, and also by the prayers of God's ministers and people. And 
I trust that a greater than Moses, even the Lord of all, is saying 
to you, to-day, as he said to Joshua, when he gave him charge con- 
cerning Israel : "Be strong and of good courage ; . . . and I 
will be with thee." 



INAUGURAL DISCOURSE 

DELIVERED BY 

REV. JAMES WOOD, D.D., 

PRESIDENT OF HANOVER COLLEGE, INDIANA, 



ON THE TRUE ENDS OP COLLEGIATE EDUCATION, AND THE PRO- 
VISIONS REQUISITE POR THEIR ATTAINMENT.* 



When our ancestors located themselves in North America, their 
first care, next to the erection of dwelling-houses and churches, 
was the establishment of Literary Institutions. Primary-schools 
and Academies occupied, of course, their earliest attention. But 
they also looked beyond these. Some of the colonists were men 
of mark. They had been educated in the Universities of Europe, 
and they cherished the high aim of planting in the virgin soil of 
America, schools of equal rank with those of the Old World. 
During the period of their colonial existence, they secured charters 
for nine institutions, in which were conferred degrees in the liberal 
arts ; and within twenty-three years after the close of the memo- 
rable struggle which issued in the separation of the United States 
from Great Britain, eighteen additional Colleges sprang into ex- 
istence, extending from Maine to Georgia, thereby demonstrating 
to the world, that the same patriotic spirit which made our soldiers 
victorious in war, was equally energetic in the more sublime and 
peaceful pursuits of science and literature. This enlightened spirit 
has continued to animate the minds of the American people. With 
the extension of our national domain, halls of science have been 
speedily opened in new States and Territories, until we now num- 
ber over one hundred and forty chartered Colleges and Universities. 

In view of these facts, it is natural for us to inquire, What are 
the true ends of Collegiate Education, and what provisions are re- 
quisite for their attainment? These inquiries, though distinct, 
are so involved in each other, that they may be discussed without 
a formal division. Indeed, a full discussion of either, requires a 
virtual answer to both. 

* August 3d, 1859. 



8 

The true ends of Collegiate Education may be stated in general 
terms, in a single sentence, viz., the higher and more mature culti- 
vation and improvement of our intellectual and moral powers, and 
the adaptation of this advanced culture and progress in science, 
literature, and moral training to the practical purposes of life. 
Elementary education is usually begun in the family, and is con- 
tinued and carried forward in the primary school and academy. 
If parents, guardians, and teachers, entertain correct views con- 
cerning the ends of this early and primary education, they aim to 
initiate those juveniles into the same literary and moral tuition 
which the College is designed subsequently to mature and consum- 
mate. The methods to be pursued in these successive stages, are of 
course different, because the severe studies of riper years are not 
adapted to the tender nurture of childhood. But the objects con- 
templated are substantially the same, viz., to discipline their intel- 
lects and hearts ; to teach them how to think and reason cor- 
rectly ; to impart a knowledge of the arts and sciences ; to improve 
and refine the manners ; to imbue their minds with sound moral 
and religious principles ; and to qualify them for enlarged influ- 
ence and usefulness among men. 

These general ends of Collegiate Education, ought to be kept in 
view by every student, without regard to the particular profession 
which he intends to pursue. They are essential to a complete 
education. If he ignores or neglects these ends, there will be a 
corresponding neglect in using the appropriate means, and hence 
his education will necessarily be defective. But with these general 
ends, which should never be lost sight of, the candidate for col- 
lege degrees enjoys ample opportunities for making special prepa 
ration for the particular work which he designs ultimately to pur- 
sue. His future avocation is often determined upon before he en- 
ters college, and in some institutions the curriculum of studies is 
arranged, with a view to this fact, into classical and scientific de- 
partments. But without such a division, and the pursuit of one or 
the other, at the option of the student, and without omitting any 
part of the college course, special reference may be had to his in- 
tended vocation, in the comparative attention which he devotes to 
different branches of science and literature ; and this, instead of 
being left to accident, might be laid down in the schedule of col- 
lege studies. 

Particularly in our age and country, a Collegiate Education must 
be adapted to qualify young men for the active duties of life. 
Study is in order to action. A mere bookworm, who cleaves to 
his studies with the tenacity of a leech, but without the power of 
locomotion, is very inadequately educated, however great the 
amount of knowledge he may have acquired. His education might 
have suited a former age, when learned men were expected to ac- 
complish little more than to preserve from extinction the science 
and literature of preceding generations. But in our days learn- 



9 

ing must be immediately employed in diffusing knowledge among 
the people, in promoting agriculture and the mechanic arts, in 
extending commerce, in improving the means of defence against 
foreign aggression, in administering justice, enacting laws, and 
advancing the moral and religious well-being of mankind. 

Accordingly, the young bachelor of arts, who has been actuated 
by correct views concerning the true ends of Collegiate Education, 
makes his exit from the platform, where he receives his diploma, 
with his mind enriched with knowledge, and his heart with virtue ; 
with a just sense of his responsibility to God and his duty to men. 
He determines to spend his days, not in learned leisure, or in an 
ambitious chase after fame; but in promoting the highest interests 
of society, and the prosperity of the Church. If he engages in 
professional studies, and prosecutes them with these views, he will 
enter the arena of public life with all the requisites for a successful 
and honourable career. Or, if he lives a private citizen, he pos- 
sesses those intellectual and moral qualities which will elevate and 
adorn his individual character, and make him an angel of light 
and love to the social circle in which he moves. 

Before considering what provisions are requisite for attaining 
the true ends of Collegiate Education, we will notice an objection, 
that colleges themselves are not the most eligible means for at- 
taining these ends. We admit, that in some rare instances, men 
become distinguished lawyers, jurists, and statesmen, eminent phy- 
sicians and divines, able teachers and professors, scientific agricul- 
turists and architects, skilful bankers and accountants, eminent 
orators and poets, without having enjoyed the previous advantages 
of a Collegiate Education. We honour those self-made men who 
have thus pursued their way to distinction, notwithstanding the 
serious difficulties which impeded their progress. But it must not 
be forgotten that college-graduates are self-made men also, in the 
proper sense of this term, if they ever accomplish anything impor- 
tant in the world. Both at college and afterwards, they must 
proceed on the motto adopted by Lord Bacon, Inveniam viam aut 
faciam ; I will find a way or make one. But college students 
have facilities for improving their powers of invention, and for at- 
taining eminence in the arts and sciences, which cannot be enjoyed 
to the same extent elsewhere ; and if they apply themselves to their 
utmost ability, they lay those deep foundations of future influence 
which qualify them to occupy the highest standing in society. 
The difference between "these and other self-made men is, that they 
are better made. Their education is more thorough and complete. 
Accordingly those who have distinguished themselves, without 
these previous advantages, are so few as to form only an exception 
to a general rule. Most of our eminent men, both in Church and 
State, are college graduates, and they owe their official elevation 
in a great degree to the superior advantages which they thus en- 
joyed. 



10 

The history of education in ancient, as compared with modern 
times, will show the signal benefits which the world has derived 
from Colleges and Universities. Among the Greeks and Romans 
these institutions were unknown. They had their gymnasia, where 
young men engaged, in a state of nudity, as the name imports, in 
physical exercises ; but where also " philosophers, rhetoricians, and 
teachers of other branches of knowledge, delivered their lectures." 
Socrates is the reputed originator of this mode of instruction. 
The famous Academy of Plato, a disciple of Socrates, was a gym- 
nasium, located in the grove of Academus, and designed primarily 
for physical sports ; but was occupied by that eminent sage for 
delivering lectures on rhetoric, logic, and philosophy. Demos- 
thenes, the most famous of Grecian orators, and Aristotle, a prince 
among ancient philosophers, attended his lectures. Aristotle, after 
having been his pupil for some years, established a school of his 
own at Athens, and added to the themes usually discussed, the sub- 
ject of natural history. He became so famous that he was selected 
private tutor to Alexander the Great. Philip of Macedon, Alexan- 
der's father, wrote to him the following remarkable letter: " King 
Philip of Macedon, to Aristotle, greeting. Know that a son has 
been born to me. I thank the gods, not so much that they have 
given him to me, as that they have permitted him to be born in the 
time of Aristotle. I hope that thou wilt form him to be a king 
worthy to succeed me, and to rule the Macedonians." 

The art of printing being unknown, authors were accustomed to 
rehearse their compositions in public, as the best means which they 
enjoyed for communicating to others the fruits of their literary 
labours. Herodotus recited his History of the Olympic Games ; 
and other writers of distinction adopted the same course. Tacitus, 
Juvenal, and Horace, all allude to this method of publishing literary 
productions, and they make particular mention of the poets, 
who, if they could not secure an audience otherwise, resorted to 
the baths and other public places, in order to obtain an opportu- 
nity of reciting their compositions. Juvenal suggests (satirically), 
" that the poet who wished his works to become known, might bor- 
row a house for the purpose of public reading, and that the person 
who accommodated the writer might place his friends and freedmen 
on the back seats, with directions to be liberal in their applause."* 

With such limited literary advantages as these, it is not strange 
that the number of learned men in ancient times was so small, or 
that so little progress was made in science and literature. The 
branches of learning pursued w r ere so few and elementary, that 
sufficient opportunity was not afforded for that profound and ex- 
pansive range of thought which subsequently characterized men of 
learning under a more favourable state of things. Children were 
regarded as the property of the State, and with the exception of 

* Dr. Miller's Retroapecl of the Eighteenth Century. Vol. II, pp. 50G-S. 



11 

the nobility and priesthood, they must become either soldiers or 
slaves. Skill in the use of arms was accordingly their highest idea 
of youthful education, and military glory the grand incentive to 
zeal and diligence in their preparation for future life. Some of 
the most renowned philosophers and orators were inured to the 
toils and perils of the camp and battle-field; and Socrates, as occa- 
sion required, alternately delivered lectures on literature and 
ethics, or performed the duties of a soldier. 

Anniversary orators, on the Fourth of July, or at college-com- 
mencements, may eulogize the learning, liberty, and high civiliza- 
tion of Greece and Rome. But if we subtract from the list of 
brilliant and honoured names a few well-known individuals, the 
galaxy of Grecian and Roman glory will lose its splendour — and 
the stars which would remain will be of so small a magnitude as to 
be scarcely deserving a record on the page of history. 

In ethical instruction, Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle, were far 
in advance of their age. We might assign reasons which render it 
highly probable that they derived their moral and religious know- 
ledge from the Jews, or in other words, from the Holy Scriptures. 
But so small an impression did their teachings on this subject pro- 
duce on the public mind, that Socrates was condemned to death on 
a charge of corrupting the Grecian youth, because he inculcated 
the unity of the Divine Being, in opposition to the prevailing Poly- 
theism of the people ; and Aristotle committed suicide in order to 
escape a similar fate, exclaiming, as he left Athens, where he was 
about to be summoned before the Court of Areopagus, and allud- 
ing to the condemnation of Socrates, " I will spare them the guilt 
of a second crime against philosophy." 

But though the most prosperous periods of Grecian and Roman 
literature, science, and religion, were much less brilliant than some 
may have imagined, they suffered at length a sad decline. The 
Roman arms made Greece a province of the Roman Empire, and 
the metropolis of learning was transferred from Athens to Rome. 
The succeeding century, and particularly the reign of Augustus, 
was a proud and auspicious era for literature. It produced a host 
of Latin historians, poets, and orators. But Rome was at length 
invaded and overcome by the Goths and Vandals. The lights of 
science and literature were almost extinguished. A long night suc- 
ceeded, denominated the dark ages, which continued for ten centu- 
ries, if we date the revival of letters at the usual period assigned 
in history to that event. But long before the Reformation some 
rays of light were shot across the horizon of darkness. According 
to Hallam, " the praise of having originally established schools, 
belong to some bishops and abbots of the sixth century. They 
came in the place of the imperial schools overthrown by the barba- 
rians." These schools, however, were chiefly for the benefit of the 
clergy, and the sons of princes and nobles, who repaired to the 
monasteries to pursue the limited course of study, denoted by the 



12 

terms trivium, and quadrivium, and forming together the entire 
curriculum of education known in that age. The trivium consisted of 
grammar, rhetoric, and logic; the quadrivium, of arithmetic, music, 
geometry, and astronomy. 

The honour of having established the first university in Europe, 
is ascribed to Charlemagne, Emperor of France and Germany, 
near the close of the eighth century. He was prompted to this 
measure by that remarkable people, the Arabians, who, having 
imported into Arabia some Greek books from the Asiatic provinces, 
were so much interested in their contents, that they petitioned their 
Caliphs to obtain from the Emperor at Constantinople, the best 
Greek authors. These they translated into Arabic ; and, in their 
further incursions, they carried these books with them into Europe, 
where, by order of Charlemagne, they were again translated from 
Arabic into Latin. He also established four universities — Paris, 
Bononia, Pavia, and Osnaburg. Not long after, Alfred, King of 
England, it is believed, founded the University of Oxford, in imi- 
tation of his illustrious compeer, Charlemagne. With these begin- 
nings, institutions of this character gradually increased in number, 
down to the time of the Reformation, at which period colleges and 
universities existed in every nation of Europe.* 

The importance of these institutions is briefly stated by a sensi- 
ble writer, in the following words : " When first established, their 
importance was incalculable. They collected the learned, who 
were few, and gave them a compact and honourable confederacy 
against the ignorant, who were powerful and many. They gave 
rise to the plan of collective exertion and emulative industry, which 
encouraged the energies of the mind, and advanced the progress 
of discovery more than any solitary and detached application, and 
they supplied a continued growth of cultivated talent, for the de- 
mands of successive generations. "f These pregnant remarks furnish 
a theme which might be expanded into a volume. We invite spe- 
cial notice to a single assertion, viz. : that colleges and universi- 
ties " gave rise to the plan of collective exertion and emulative 
industry, ivhich encouraged the energies of the mind, and advanced 
the progress of discovery." As an illustration of this fact, let it be 
remembered that all the most grand and most valuable discoveries 
which have ever been made in the sciences, and the most remark- 
able and useful inventions in the arts, were made subsequently to 
the founding of colleges and universities, and as the fruit of that 
awakened intellectual energy consequent on the successful opera- 
tion, progress, and continuance of those institutions. To mention 
no others, when, and how, originated the art of printing ? the 
mariner's compass? the telescope? a knowledge of the laws of 
attraction and gravitation ; and the modern system of astronomy ? 

* See Wharton's [ntroduction of Learning into England. 
f Taylor's History of the University of Dublin. 



13 

inventions and discoveries which have revolutionized the literary, 
political, commercial, and religious world. They were all con- 
nected, directly or indirectly, with Collegiate Education. 

But time forbids the further prosecution of this train of thought. 
A single example will suffice for a specimen of those distinguished 
scholars and philosophers, who, in successive periods, contributed 
to the advancement of science in Great Britain, through the ad- 
vantages enjoyed at the English Universities. The illustrious Sir 
Isaac Newton was the greatest luminary of science which the world 
ever produced. When a boy he was sent to Grantham, a public 
school, chartered in the reign of Edward VI. Here he instructed 
the other boys in the best mode of making paper kites. He made 
a small wind-mill, and put a mouse in it for a miller; he also con- 
structed a miniature sun-dial. He is said, however, to have been 
negligent in his studies, and to have stood low in his class. But 
having received a severe kick from another boy, he resolved to 
take on him a twofold revenge — first, to give him a thrashing, and 
secondly, to excel him as a scholar ; both of which he put into ex- 
ecution : and he kept rising till he took a higher stand than any 
other boy in the school. But, owing to the second marriage of his 
mother, he was obliged to suspend his studies and become an over- 
seer of her farm. His mills and mouse-gear, his paper kites and 
sun-dials, and his books too, were exchanged for the various duties 
of the farm and market. He pursued this avocation for several 
years, and would probably have continued a farmer till death, but 
for his mother's brother, a clergyman, who had been educated at 
Cambridge, and by whose advice and influence his nephew was sent 
to Trinity College, Cambridge, the place of his uncle's education. 
Here he obtained a fellowship, and laid the foundation for those 
discoveries in philosophical and astronomical science which com- 
menced a new era in the history of profound and liberal learning.* 

We will now proceed to specify some of the provisions which 
are requisite for attaining the true ends of Collegiate Education. 

1. The course of study ought to be adequate to meet the demands 
of any vocation which the under-graduates may have in view. In 
the Middle Ages, and under the patronage of feudal princes, and 
the Papal Church, though colleges and monasteries were objects of 
veneration, and often of special benefactions and immunities, 
learned men, the number of whom was always small, formed a 
class by themselves, almost wholly secluded from the rest of the 
world ; and their learning was like statuary, valuable as tablets to 
perpetuate great events, but producing little effect on the public 
mind. The Latin language was the only one deemed fit for science 
and religion. Learned men, even in common conversation, ge- 
nerally conversed in Latin. The massive tomes which they penned 

* See British Classical Journal, for this, and other examples bearing on the 
same point. 



14 

as authors were in Latin. The themes discussed were frequently 
mere scholastic subtleties, which could not be understood by ordinary 
mincls; and if they could, they were of little practical utility. The 
founding of colleges and universities produced, in process of time, 
a great change in the course of studies. Education became more 
practical, and to meet this change, a demand was created for new 
branches of knowledge, adapted to the progress which had been 
made in the arts and sciences. These changes have been going on 
in successive periods down to the present time, and hence some 
studies are demanded now which were passed over in a cursory 
manner, or not attended to at all in former centuries. 

But unhappily, in this rapid and utilitarian age and country, 
there is a disposition, instead of adding these new branches to the 
old curriculum of studies, to abridge the college course, and permit 
mathematics and the natural sciences, with modern languages, to 
take the place of the ancient classics. This public taste has been 
created in part by the United States Government, in establishing 
the Military Academy at West Point ; and by the public graded 
schools in several States, formed in this particular on the same 
model. Those institutions are rendering an important service to 
the country ; and they seem to make it necessary to connect a 
scientific department with our colleges, corresponding in character 
to the course of study pursued in those schools. But, in yielding 
to this demand of public sentiment, it should be distinctly an- 
nounced that a full and thorough course is as much to be preferred 
as the difference which it requires in time and expense. Because 
surveying and civil engineering, chemistry, geology, electricity, &c, 
together with English literature, and perhaps French and German, 
may be sufficient for ordinary practical purposes, it does not 
follow, as some suppose, that there is no necessity of spending 
several years in acquiring a knowledge of the Latin and Greek. 
Though we would not diminish an iota from the highest ground 
assumed by any as to the importance of mathematical studies, or 
the study of natural science, or of English literature, or the 
modern languages, we must protest against the practical under- 
valuing of those venerable classics, which, from the first establish- 
ment of colleges and universities, have contributed so largely to 
that intellectual distinction and influence, which have been styled 
the " manorial rights of learning, and its title to the tribute of 
public esteem." 

To dispense with the study of Latin and Greek, on the plea that 
they are dead languages, and therefore of no practical value, is 
about as cogent a reason as it would be for a geologist to dispense 
with mineral specimens, because they are layers of inanimate rock ; 
or for an anatomist to dispense with a human skeleton, because it 
is composed of dry and lifeless bones. The study of the ancient 
classics is among the best means, if not itself the very best, which 
can be employed to discipline and improve the mind. Language is 



15 

the most striking exponent of our rational nature, — that which 
distinguishes us from brutes. We think in words. The analysis 
of words and sentences, the study of their grammatical construc- 
tion, and their translation from one language into another, train 
our thoughts to flow with precision and perspicuity, like subjecting 
precious metal to the heat of the crucible, by which it is rendered 
pure and lustrous. 

And further, an accurate acquaintance with the ancient classics, 
and the exercise of translating them into English, make us better 
acquainted with our own language. The English is our vernacular 
tongue, and it ought to be cultivated and perfected with feelings 
analogous to those with which we cherish affection for our own 
countrymen and kindred. A professorship of the English 
language and literature would be a valuable addition to our 
curriculum of college studies in this institution.* If, as has been 
affirmed by a writer already alluded to, the introduction of the 
study of common law into the University of Oxford promoted pa- 
triotic and liberal feelings in the minds of the students, we may 
argue, with much probability, that the introduction of English 
literature into our colleges will have a similar tendency on the 
minds of American youth. The literature of a people, as well as 
their laws, gives tone to their national character ; and it is not less 
a source of just national pride to possess a language which is pure 
and classical, than a constitution and laws which are enlightened 
and free. 

But the introduction of this new professorship should form an 
addition to the present course, and not a substitute for Latin and 
Greek. A substitution of this kind would result in a failure to 
accomplish the very object which an English professorship has in 
view. The Latin and Greek, it is true, are not the parents of the 
English, though many English words are derived from those lan- 
guages. The study of the English involves the study of its early 
history in its Anglo-Saxon and Teutonic origin. We admire the 
Anglo-Saxon. Many Saxon words we prefer to any others of the 
same signification. They have a brevity and euphony which render 
them remarkably forcible in expression, and musical in tone. But 
it must not be forgotten that the ancient Saxon was rude and bar- 
barous. Prior to the eighth century, the Britons did not possess 
even an alphabet. The venerable Bede was the first to cultivate 
the native language. He was also in other respects the most 
learned man of that age, and he did more than any one else to 
elevate the people from their former barbarism. He is styled by 
Burke, the father of English learning. But if he had been, unable 
to study the Greek and Roman writers, to whom he is said to have 

- It has been claimed for Lafayette College, and with apparent justice, that 
that institution has the honour of being the first American college which has 
established a professorship of the English language. This example is worthy of 
imitation by other colleges. 



16 

resorted as the " purest sources" of learning, he would have been 
illy qualified for his important work. 

The rise and progress of English literature, in their relation to 
Latin and Greek, were like the German. A hundred and fifty 
years ago, the German language was not regarded by Germans 
themselves as fit to be employed in writing books, either on science 
or theology. The practice of translating from Latin and Greek 
into German, which then commenced, imparted to that language in 
due time a classic purity. The number of learned works now 
published in German, is probably as great as in any other language 
on the globe. In like manner, the classical purity of the English, 
and our present facilities for studying it with success, are owing to 
the labours of literary men well versed in Latin and Greek. Ex- 
cept for this, Home Tooke could not have written his able work on 
philology, entitled "The Diversions of Purley ;" and Noah Web- 
ster could not have produced his standard Dictionary, which, ac- 
cording to the admission of Lord Brougham, has " virtually placed 
the English language on a level with the classical languages of 
Greece and Rome."* 

2. In order to attain the true ends of Collegiate Education, ac- 
curate and thorough scholarship, with a good moral and gentle- 
manly character, should be required and insisted on as an indis- 
pensable pre-requisite for securing a college diploma. An extensive 
and full curriculum of study will not suffice, unless our colleges 
practically adhere to the rule of exacting from under-graduates a 
thorough acquaintance with all the branches included in the pre- 
scribed course. With a view to this, care should be taken that 
none are matriculated who are not well qualified. Those who enter 
college with a partial preparation, seldom make up the deficiency; 
or if they do, it is frequently with the loss of health, in conse- 
quence of extra exertions. By a thorough previous preparation, 
they can with ordinary diligence sustain themselves, and graduate 
with respectability and honour. 

And further, when students are admitted to college, let it be done 
under a distinct pledge that they will maintain industrious, moral, 
and gentlemanly habits. When young men go to college with no 
love for science or literature, and with the expectation of obtaining 
a bachelor's degree without the labour of accurate and thorough 
scholarship, who expect to acquire the imperfect knowledge which 
they obtain, through the aid of their classmates, or by consulting 
keys and notes of lectures, who feel themselves exonerated from 
the rules of polite society, and even from the laws of the land, and 
are disposed to indulge themselves in nocturnal vices and irregu- 
larities, it is obvious that they entertain no adequate conceptions 
of the true ends of Collegiate Education, or of the proper means of 
obtaining them. If any such have been inadvertently admitted to 

* Note in Dr. McPhail's Inaugural. 



17 

this college, or if they heave it in contemplation to become mem- 
bers, we seriously advise you young gentlemen either to correct 
your views and reform your habits, or to seek your literary honours 
at some other institution. If your intellectual and moral proclivi- 
ties are so debased, that neither college laws, nor civil and divine 
laws ; neither your own reputation as gentlemen, nor the usages of 
refined and virtuous society ; neither a desire for knowledge and 
wisdom, nor a noble ambition to gratify and honour your friends, 
and benefit your country and your race, will influence you to be 
diligent in study, and upright and gentlemanly in your deportment, 
the effort to elevate you to a reputable standing as scholars and as 
men, will be an Herculean task. 

College students ought to act on the principle that a want of 
courtesy and politeness in their intercourse with each other, with 
the college Faculty, or with the citizens of the place in which the 
institution is located, is no less reprehensible than it would be at 
their father's fireside, or in their mother's parlour. One of the 
aims of college life is to humanize the feelings ; but it fails to ac- 
complish this end, if a young man is permitted to hold a good 
standing as a collegian, when he practises any kind of rudeness, 
which, if practised at home, would exclude him from refined and 
genteel society. 

Still worse is that spirit of vandalism, which some young men, 
while at college, take the liberty of practising, in the destruction 
of public and private property, as though a club of college students 
might with impunity commit all sorts of depredations, not excepting 
those which, if committed elsewhere, would render the culprit liable 
to the severest legal penalties. May a kind Providence deliver us 
from the annoyance of ever having a single student of this charac- 
ter at Hanover College. 

For the encouragement of high literary attainments, of a cour- 
teous and manly bearing, and of an elevated, Christian morality, 
the honours of college should in our judgment, be so awarded as 
to furnish due incentives for each of these requisites; all of which 
should likewise be so associated together, that a material failure in 
one of them would be a forfeiture of the intended honours. Founda- 
tions for scholarships ought also to be based on the same principles. 
These foundations are often of great value in affording facilities for 
the indigent to obtain a liberal education. But these scholarships 
ought not to be given indiscriminately to young men, merely because 
they are poor. They should be awarded to the talented and meri- 
torious. Most of the literary honours in the University of Dublin, 
are said to be obtained by students called sizars, i. e., students whose 
pecuniary means are small, and who receive admission to the Uni- 
versity free of expense, as a reward for distinguished scholarship 
and high moral character in the preparatory department. 

But after all, we must appeal to the understandings and con- 
sciences of young men themselves. The pursuit of knowledge and 

2 



18 

virtue was described by the ancients, as a laborious ascent to the 
summit of a rugged and lofty eminence, on which the temple of 
science and wisdom was supposed to stand ; implying that the effort 
to become wise and good, is laborious, and requires the utmost 
attention. They also represented the retrograde movement as easy, 
but ruinous ; from which they could be recovered only by divine 
grace. Thus wrote an old Roman bard: "Facilis descensus Averni," 
&c, which Dryden translated as follows : 

" The gates of hell are opened night and day, 
Smooth the descent and easy is the way : 
But to return and view the cheerful skies. 
In this the task of mighty labours lies ; 
To few great Jupiter imparts that grace, 
And those of shining worth," &c. 

These sentiments, though penned by a heathen, are true and 
important. If vigilantly and prayerfully attended to by college 
students, there would be no necessity for the checks and restraints, 
reproofs and admonitions which are so frequently required in our 
institutions of learning. Then their progress in learning and virtue, 
though not free from toil and labour, would be pleasant, and not 
painful. Colleges would not be in imagination, but in reality, 
Academic shades, Pierian springs, where students would resort for 
the love of learning and virtue, and where they would enjoy, in 
their own happy experience, the glowing description of John Milton, 
in these eloquent words : " The path of virtuous and noble educa- 
tion is laborious indeed at the first ascent, but else so smooth, so 
green, so full of goodly prospect and melodious sounds on every 
side, that the harp of Orpheus was not more charming." 

3. A further requisite for attaining the true ends of Collegiate 
Education is, that religious instruction must form a part of the regu- 
lar college course. A provision to this effect was expressly made 
in the plans of the first four colleges established in the American 
colonies. The first of these was Harvard University, in 1642. 
The constitution proposed as the object to be attained in its founda- 
tion, " piety, morality, and learning. And for the purpose of securing 
these ends, the students were to be practised twice a day in reading 
the Scriptures, giving an account of their proficiency and experi- 
ence in practical and spiritual truths, accompanied by theoretical 
observations on the language and logic of the sacred writings. 
They were carefully to attend God's ordinances, and be examined 
on their profiting, commonplacing the sermons, and repeating them 
publicly in the hall. In every year, and in every week of the col- 
lege course, every class was practised in the Bible and catechetical 
divinity."* 

The next in the order of time, was William and Mary, at Wil- 
liamsburg, Va. The charter bears date, February 14th, 1<31>2 ; 

* Note to President Quincy's History. 



19 

the preamble to which says, "Their trusty and well-beloved sub- 
jects, constituting the General Assembly of the colony of Virginia, 
have had it in their minds to found and establish a certain place of 
universal study, or perpetual college of divinity, philosophy, lan- 
guages, and other good arts and sciences — to the end, that the 
Church of Virginia may be furnished with a Seminary of ministers 
of the Gospel, and that the youth may be piously educated in good 
letters and manners, and that the Christian faith may be propagated 
among the Western Indians, to the glory of Almighty God."* 

The next was Yale College. " At a session of the colonial Con- 
gress at New Haven, in October, 1701, a petition was presented to 
that body, signed by many ministers and others, which stated that 
from a sincere regard to, and zeal for upholding the Protestant 
religion by a succession of learned and orthodox men, they had 
proposed that a collegiate school should be erected in this colony, 
wherein youths should be instructed in all parts of learning, to 
qualify them for public employments in Church and State, and that 
they had nominated ten ministers to be trustees, partners or under- 
takers for founding, endowing and ordering the said school, and 
thereupon desired that full liberty and privilege might be granted 
to said undertakers to that end." The institution was opened at 
Killingworth, where the first rector of the college resided; but the 
commencements were held at Saybrook. After the union of the 
colonies of Connecticut and New Haven, in 1760, the college was 
removed to New Haven. f 

The fourth of these institutions was the College of New Jersey, 
founded in 1740. "The design, as well as the origin of this insti- 
tution," says the venerable Dr. Green, "is manifest from the state- 
ment that has been made. It is apparent, not only from the motives 
which so powerfully influenced those who first projected the college, 
and who laboured so long and earnestly to establish it, but from the 
express and repeated declarations of Governor Belcher in his replies 
to the addresses of the original trustees, that this institution was 
intended by all parties concerned in founding it, to be one in which 
religion and learning should be unitedly cultivated, in all time to 
come."J 

These statements show the views of our colonial ancestors on 
this subject; and they are as worthy of being respected by the 
American people, as were the views entertained and expressed by 
the same men, and their patriotic compeers, on the subject of human 
rights, and of civil and religious liberty. 

* See Dr. Foote's Sketches of Virginia. The college was projected, and 
the charter obtained by the Rev. James Blair, who made a voyage to England 
for this purpose. William and Mary, who were then on the throne, named Mr. 
Blair, in the charter, as the first president, and he acted in that capacity till the 
year 1742. 

f See Dr. Sprague's Annals of the American Pulpit. 

% Dr. Green's Historical Notes of the College of New Jersey. 



20 

One of the means employed for carrying into effect the religious 
design indicated in these extracts, was the daily reading of the 
Bible, accompanied with prayer in the college chapel, and public 
religious worship on the Sabbath. In Harvard, particularly, pro- 
vision was also made in the charter for recitations from the Sacred 
Scriptures. It is probable, however, that this provision was not 
carried out in practice, as Princeton College seems to have been 
the first in this country where the Bible was made a regular col- 
lege study.* This exercise is still continued in that college, and 
with the most salutary results. It is attended by all the students, 
and occupies the place of a second religious exercise of a more 
public character on Sabbath afternoons. The plan has been fully 
indorsed by the Board of Trustees. In 1854 the trustees ap- 
pointed a committee of their own body to report "whether any, 
and if any, what measures ought to be taken to infuse more reli- 
gious instruction into the course of studies, and to secure more 
fastoral oversight of the students." The committee consisted of 
the Rev. Drs. C. Van Rensselaer, John McDowell, and David 
Magee, nomina clara, whose able report was unanimously adopted 
by the Board, and it expressed, in strong terms, a conviction 
of the great importance of religious instruction to the prosperity 
of the College, with a high, yet merited commendation of the 
fidelity of the excellent and devoted President. f 

The study of the Holy Scriptures ought to be included in the 
programme of every American college, and be made, as at Prince- 
ton, a subject for tjie final examination, like any other branch of 
study. The Bible deserves to have the place of a classic ; and in 
addition to its regular study in English, it should be studied also 
in the original Greek and Hebrew. If a knowledge of Pagan 
classics may be properly insisted on, much more an acquaintance 
with God's own book, the most ancient and important volume 
known to mankind. 

The ancient Jews, like other ancient nations, had no colleges ; 
but the Bible was made, by Divine authority, their daily text-book 
in every household in the land. And the effect was, that though 

* Our reason for this opinion is, that the Rev. Dr. Samuel Miller, -whose his- 
torical knowledge Avas remarkably accurate and extensive, proposed at the centen- 
nial celebration of the College of New Jersey, June, 1847, the following sentiment : 
" The venerable Ashbel Green, D.D., LL.D., our venerable eighth President : we 
honour him, as the first head of a college, in the United States, who introduced the 
study of the Bible as a regular part of the college course." 

f The closing paragraph of the report, " expressing the obligations the College 
is under to its present President, for the assiduous and faithful attention to its 
religious condition during a long series of years, while Professor and Vice-Presi- 
dent," concludes as follows: "If his public administration shall be distinguished 
in nothing more than by adding to the religious instruction in the coarse of 
studies, and by increasing the pastoral oversight over our beloved youth, his name 
will go down to posterity, on the roll of Dickinson, and Burr, and Edwards, and 
Davies, and Finley, and Witherspoon, and Smith, and Green, and Carnahan, 
with light undimmed by the brightness of liis compeers.*" 



21 

inferior to several other nations in science, literature, and arms, 
the Jews stood far above all others in moral purity, domestic happi- 
ness, and social prosperity. Young men are very partially edu- 
cated unless they have studied with care this Book of books ; and 
to study it ill the Greek and Hebrew originals as well as in Eng- 
lish, is doubly profitable to college students, by giving them the 
intellectual as well as moral benefit of studying inspired thoughts 
in inspired words. It is like tracing the mighty Mississippi, the 
father of waters, to its crystal fountains in the northern lakes. 

It must be admitted, that there is a practical difficulty in study- 
ing Hebrew in our colleges ; first, because the schedule of college 
studies is so large as to leave little time to devote to it ; and 
secondly, because theological students, who alone, with some ex- 
ceptions, desire to study Hebrew, are too much inclined to make 
the knowledge of this language, which they acquire at college, a 
substitute for the first year's course in a Theological Seminary. 
They may regard this as an advantage, by shortening their course one 
year. But we consider it an evil. Time thus gained, unless followed 
by extraordinary exertions in succeeding years, will subject minis- 
ters to the penalty of a perpetual discount on the ability and effec- 
tiveness of their public performances. If some knowledge of He- 
brew were required for admission into our Theological Seminaries, 
and incentives thereby furnished for all our colleges to teach the 
elements of this sacred language, as a few of them now do, this 
difficulty would be remedied. 

4. In order to attain the true ends of Collegiate Education, it is 
requisite that the college Faculty be composed of well-qualified 
and faithful men. In addition to competent talents, sound discre- 
tion, genuine piety and skill in communicating instruction, they 
ought to possess profound and varied learning. And with a view 
to this, it is important that our colleges enjoy the advantage of 
fellow 'shij^s, by which an opportunity may be afforded for graduates 
of superior merit, to prosecute their studies for a few years after 
they have received the bachelor's degree. A collegiate course is 
not regarded, by reflecting men, as the complete acquisition of a 
learned education ; but only as laying a good foundation on which 
graduates are expected to build the superstructure. They must be 
students all their lives, if they become eminently learned men. 
But in endeavouring to arrive at this distinction, in our country, 
literary men generally labour under the serious disadvantage of 
being obliged to engage daily in the active duties of professional 
business, with no opportunities for scientific and literary pursuits, 
except the fragments of time redeemed from the hours of ordinary 
repose. If fellowships were founded in our colleges, for the en- 
couragement of young men of talents, scholarship, and moral 
worth, there would be a large increase in the numbers of resident 
graduates, who would render themselves competent to honour pro- 
fessors' chairs in our collegiate institutions, or to make, in other 



22 

spheres, those beneficial and learned researches, which would con- 
tribute to our social prosperity and national greatness. The vene- 
rable Dr. Nott, President of Union College, in his princely dona- 
tion of six hundred thousand dollars to that institution, has wisely 
provided for a considerable number of fellowships, and young men 
who desire to avail themselves of the benefits of this foundation, 
must not only be students of that institution, but must take a full 
four years' course. By this, and the other munificent provisions 
specified in his splendid donation, Dr. Nott has become as distin- 
guished a pecuniary benefactor to Union College, our own alma 
mater, as he has been, in other respects, by his able and efficient 
presidency of more than half a century. 

It would also be a great public benefit to the cause of education, 
if normal schools were established in connection with our colleges, 
where those who desire to devote themselves to professional teach- 
ing, may become qualified for the important station of principals in 
our numerous academies, high schools, and common schools. Inde- 
pendent institutions for normal instruction have been established 
by several of our State Legislatures, and with signal advantage to 
our common schools, and other seminaries of learning. 

5. Another requisite for attaining the true ends of Collegiate 
Education is, that college trustees be men of enlightened and libe- 
ral views, of sound discretion, and of good financial ability. That 
they ought to be cordial, united, and zealous, in promoting the 
interests of a college of which they are the guardians ; and also, 
that they should be generous in their benefactions, provided the 
college is in special need of funds, are so obvious, that a declaration 
to this effect seems to be superfluous. It is clear that none ought to 
accept this trust, or retain it if previously assumed, whose feelings 
are hostile, or even indifferent to the prosperity of the institution. 
But it is not enough that trustees are cordial, and even pecuniarily 
generous. They must be competent. The educational interests of 
many hundreds and thousands of young men, the pride of their pa- 
rents, and the hope of their country and the Church, are com- 
mitted to their hands. If they adopt wise and judicious measures, 
and execute them with harmony and vigour, their official acts will 
contribute largely to the elevation and progress of society. A 
college, wisely located and efficiently managed, exerts a beneficial 
influence on a whole State, and often over a whole country. Of 
course college trustees are conservators of the public good, and 
they may be justly held responsible for the manner in which they 
fulfil their high and important trust. Especially are the finances 
of the institution committed to their management and control. On 
them are devolved the important measures of raising and investing 
funds, of making necessary improvements in the college buildings. 
library, and apparatus, and in general of keeping the institution in 
a healthy and prosperous pecuniary condition. How necessary 
then, for the trustees of a college to possess financial ability. If 



23 

a distinguished college president, in nominating a successor to that 
office, mentioned financial ability, as a primary requisite, this is 
still more important in a Board of Trustees. 

6. Ecclesiastical supervision is of special advantage in securing 
the true ends of collegiate education. This supervision may be 
either by individual members of the Church, associated together 
for this purpose, and forming virtually an ecclesiastical body, or 
by the Church, in her organized capacity, as a Presbytery or 
Synod. Instead of proving its value by argument, it "will be suffi- 
cient, on the present occasion, to notice how this plan has actually 
worked in several of our most successful institutions. History is 
sometimes more conclusive than logic. 

The important measure of erecting a College in Connecticut, 
which resulted in the establishment of Yale College, was devised in 
1698, by a General Synod of the churches. It was intended that 
the Synod should nominate the first president and inspectors, and 
have some kind of influence in all future elections, " so far as 
should be necessary to preserve orthodoxy in the governors ;" that 
the college should be called " The School of the Church ;" and 
that " the churches should contribute towards its support." This 
project failed ; but in the following year, ten of the principal min- 
isters of the colony (all except two, graduates of Harvard College) 
were nominated and agreed upon, by general consent, both of the 
clergy and laity, to be trustees, to found, erect, and govern a col- 
lege. The government of the college, though in the hands of a 
close corporation, is in a Congregational sense, ecclesiastical, and 
is so regarded by the Board itself. The clerical members sat as 
an ecclesiastical council in the time of President Clap, organized 
a college church, and installed Professor Daggett as the pastor.* 

The College of New Jersey, at Princeton, is another instance of 
ecclesiastical supervision in one of the senses we have described ; 
and its character and success are not inferior to Yale. The College 
at Princeton was originated by Presbyterians, and it has always 
been under the regimen of Christian gentlemen (mostly Presbyte- 
rians), who were never known, except in a single instance, to swerve, 

* See Lives of Bev. Abraham Pierson and President Clap, in Dr. Sprague's 
Annals. See also, Professor Fisher's Centenary Discourse; a note to which con- 
tains the following interesting statement: "The Address of President Clap to 
the Professor, sets forth, in few words, the grounds on which the authority to 
organize the Church was defended. The College is spoken of as an ' Ecclesiastical 
Society,' being constituted such by the Charter, which permitted its existence as 
a { Sacred School,' for the promotion of learning and religion. The President and 
Fellows are a number of ministers, 'specially delegated to have the oversight and 
government' of the institution. Provided the approval of the Corporation is ob- 
tained, there is therefore nothing to preclude members of College from uniting in 
a Church. And being a body of ministers, resembling a perpetual council, the 
Corporation can also give, on behalf of the churches, their sanction to the pro- 
ceeding. In this latter capacity, the Corporation may ordain to the work of the 
ministry persons who are called to give religious instruction in college, — as was 
done in the case of Presidents Day and "Woolsey."' 






24 

even in appearance, from the religious basis on which the institu- 
tion was founded ; and this disposition was promptly arrested by 
that remarkable man, the Rev. Wm. Tennent, Jr., a member of the 
Board of Trustees, who was not less distinguished for decision of 
character, than for his extraordinary piety. He is the person who, 
when a young man, was favoured with a wonderful trance, the re- 
cord of which has made his name familiar to thousands of Christians, 
both in America and Europe. 

" Mr. Tennent was one of the most active and zealous founders of 
that college ; and the great object of those worthy men, in all the 
labour and expense which they incurred in its establishment, was 
to train up a pious and learned ministry for the Presbyterian 
Church. For the attainment of this object, and to guard the col- 
lege against every species of perversion or abuse, he was ever on 
the watch, and especially to promote the religious interests of the 
institution. 

" Soon after William Franklin (son of Benjamin), was appointed 
Governor of the Province of New Jersey, he took his seat, accord- 
ing to the provision of the charter, as ex officio President of the 
Board. On one of the early occasions of his presiding in quality 
of Governor, after coming to that office, he formed a plan of wheed- 
ling the Board into an agreement to have their charter so modified 
as to place the institution more entirely in the power of the Pro- 
vincial government, and to receive in exchange for this concession 
some inconsiderable pecuniary advantage. The Governor made 
this proposal in a plausible speech, and was receiving the thanks 
of several short-sighted and sanguine members of the Board of 
Trustees, when Mr. Tennent, who had been prevented by some dis- 
pensation of Providence from coming earlier, appeared in the Board 
and took his seat. After listening for a few minutes, and hearing 
from one and another of his brother trustees, the nature of the 
Governor's plan and offer, after several of them had in his pre- 
sence recognized the Governor's proposal as highly favourable, 
and such as ought to be accepted, and praised his Excellency's 
generous proposal as what all must think well of, Mr. Tennent, 
looking round the Board with the sharp and piercing eye for which 
he was remarkable when strongly excited, rose and said : ' Breth- 
ren ! are you mad ? I say, brethren, are you mad ? Rather than 
accept the offer of the President [the Governor], I would set fire 
to the college-edifice at its four corners, and run away in the light 
of the flames.' Such was the effect of thrs rebuff from a trustee of 
such known honesty, influence, and decision, that little more was 
said. The proposal was laid on the table, and never more called 
up."* 

The first college established in our country under the direct 
supervision of a Presbytery or Synod, was Centre College, Ky. 

* Dr. A. Alexander's History of the Log College, pp. L63, 154. 



25 

The Presbyterians were the earliest promoters of education in that 
State. While it was yet a colony of Virginia, the Transylvania 
Seminary was incorporated, with a donation of 8000 acres of land 
from the State of Virginia ; and soon after the Kentucky colony 
was erected into a State, the seminary was opened near Danville, 
all its leading patrons being Presbyterians. But in a few years it 
was removed to Lexington. Unhappily the Board of Trustees was 
composed largely of men who professed such unbounded Catholicism, 
that they ejected the principal, a Presbyterian, on religious grounds, 
and filled the vacancy thus created by electing a Unitarian in his 
place. 

The Transylvania Presbytery then established an institution of 
their own, under the name of The Kentucky Academy, and 
nearly $10,000 was raised in the Eastern States to aid the under- 
taking. The Kentucky Academy was so much more flourishing than 
the Transylvania Seminary, that the Trustees of the Seminary 
made overtures for a union of the two institutions, with a pledge 
that a majority of the trustees should always be Presbyterians, and 
no change should ever be made in the charter without the consent of 
a majority of the members of the Board. The terms were acceded 
to, and a new charter was obtained, under the style of the Tran- 
sylvania University. Matters went on harmoniously for a few 
years, when, by changes made in the Board, a majority of the 
members succeeded in electing a Unitarian to the office of Presi- 
dent ; and, during the struggle which ensued, the Legislature, 
contrary to the express provisions of the charter, created a new 
Board, not a single one of whom was a professor of religion. The 
Presbyterians were thus compelled a second time to establish a 
College of their own. In the midst of much public obloquy, and 
after no little discouragement and delay in the Legislature, a char- 
ter was obtained, giving to the Synod of Kentucky the supervision 
and control of the institution. Centre College, which was opened 
under this new charter, in 1823, with the loss of $10,000, paid to 
the Transylvania University, which was never refunded, and with 
no pecuniary support except from private munificence, soon excelled 
the University, though encouraged by large and repeated donations 
from the State, and a magnificent legacy from an individual friend 
of the institution. The Trustees of the University, perceiving their 
error, endeavoured, after a vacancy occurred in the Presidency, to 
restore public confidence, by the successive election of men to fill 
that office belonging to the different evangelical churches, including 
the Presbyterian. But the Providence of God did not smile on 
these measures. One denomination after another following the 
example of the Presbyterians, established colleges of their own, 
until at length, as a dernier resort, the Trustees of the University 
proffered its supervision to one of these denominations ; and, finally, 
the Legislature converted it into a Normal School. In this form 
it was carried on for a short time with encouraging prospects. But 



26 

by political influences, the requisite pecuniary appropriations have 
been withheld, and the institution is now virtually closed. 

Some men, with high pretensions to patriotism, profess no little 
apprehension lest there should be too close a union between the 
State and the Church, in the matter of education. But here was 
an attempt to conduct a University by the State alone in opposition 
to the Church ; and the result showed, that though the scheme 
seemed to be temporarily successful, it terminated in a profound 
and mortifying failure ; while Centre College, under the fostering 
care of the Church, and by the blessing of God, has become a large 
and prosperous institution.* 

We do not assert that colleges under the direction of the State 
are necessarily hostile to religion. Legislation is sometimes con- 
trolled by Christian men ; and w T here this is the case, college-trustees 
appointed by Legislatures will be likely to respect religion. But 
it is often quite otherwise. A painful proof of this has been given 
in the exclusion of the Bible from the public schools in some of the 
States ; showing how unsafe it is to intrust the educational interests 
of the country to the exclusive control of legislative bodies. One 
legislature may nullify all which has been done by a preceding 
one ; and the community is thus rendered constantly liable to those 
fluctuations which the caprice of party politics, or unprincipled dema- 
gogues may endeavour to effect. Nothing is so stable and reliable 
as Christian principle ; and as the Church is founded on this basis, 
educational institutions under the control of the Church, are far 
more likely to be such as the interests of society require, than those 
which are controlled by men of the world. 

7. Once more : in order to attain the true ends of collegiate edu- 
cation, colleges ought to be well endowed. The serious financial 
embarrassment under which many of our colleges are struggling, 
greatly impedes their progress and usefulness. We do not advocate 
expensive college buildings. But substantial buildings, with a 
good library, and a good philosophical and chemical apparatus, 
are a necessity, the supply of which is essential to the prosperity 
of a college. We do not plead for the endowment of professorships 
on such a scale as to provide for the incumbent luxurious and 
splendid livings. But the means of being supported with comfort 
and respectability are necessary to make them successful in their 
official labours. Parents and guardians, nay, the whole Church are 
therefore deeply interested in having our colleges amply endowed. 
The large benefactions of the wealthy, and the smaller offerings by 
men of moderate means, donations during life, and legacies in view 
of death, cannot be better applied than to found professorships in 
Christian colleges ; and next to these in importance, is the founding 
of scholarships, by which a liberal education may be accessible to 
the talented and deserving poor as well as the rich. Without 

Davidson's History of the Presbyterian Church in Kentucky. 



27 

wishing to divert a dollar from other objects of public utility, we 
would earnestly solicit, in behalf of our colleges, a share in the 
benefactions of the Church. Funds placed here will be a perma- 
nent deposit for the benefit of successive generations till the end 
of time. 

Before concluding our discourse, it will accord with its main 
design, and be pertinent to the present occasion, to allude briefly 
to the past history of Hanover College. The origin of this insti- 
tution dates back as far as 1825, when a committee of the Salem 
Presbytery, the only Presbytery then in the State of Indiana, 
selected Hanover as the most eligible location for a school of the 
Church. In 1828, a charter was obtained for an Academy, with 
the intent also, of connecting with it a Theological Seminary. In 
1829, the Academy was taken under the care of the Synod of 
Indiana, which embraced at that time, the States of Indiana, Illi- 
nois, and Missouri. A Theological Seminary* was also provided 
for by the Synod, in connection with the Academy. In 1833, the 
charter was amended, and the name changed to Hanover College. 

Few colleges have experienced as repeated and as serious disasters 
as those which marked the first ten or twelve years of the chartered 
existence of this institution. Had these disasters been more seri- 
ous, it could not have survived. As it was, its continuance was 
once rendered extremely doubtful. The very foundations seemed 
to have been swept away as by a mighty torrent. The charter was 
surrendered, and the property sold. But the churches of Indiana 
clung to the ruin with parental tenderness ; reminding one of the 
beautiful allusion of Lamartine, when eloquently illustrating the 
love of his parents towards himself, " I remember," said he, " to 
have seen the branch of a willow which had been torn by the tem- 
pest's hand from the parent trunk, floating in the morning light 
upon the angry surges of the overflowing Soane. On it a female 
nightingale still covered her nest, as it drifted down the foaming 
stream, and the male on the wing followed the wreck which was 
bearing away the object of his love." Such were the feelings and 
conduct of the friends of Hanover College towards the child of 
their affections and prayers, when it was threatened with annihila- 
tion. And their tenderness was effectual to recover it from the 

* The Theological Seminary was carried on at Hanover eight years ; during 
which time the number of theological students amounted in all to 40. After its 
removal to New Albany, in 1840, to 1855, which is as late as the catalogue in my 
possession extends, the number in attendance was 133. Add 27 more, as the 
probable number for the next two years, when the Seminary was suspended, with 
a view to the establishment of the Northwestern Theological Seminary at Chicago. 
Thus the aggregate number of students who have been prepared for the Gospel 
ministry in the Theological Department of Hanover College, and the New Albany 
Theological Seminary which grew out of it, was 200. For twelve years, from 
1839 to 1851, I was connected with the Seminary as a Professor, and instructed 
about 100 of the young men alone referred to. I am happy to bear my testimony 
to their worth. Some of them are highly distinguished. 



28 

destructive billows, and replace it on this lofty and commanding 
eminence. 

Notwithstanding its many discouragements and vicissitudes, Han- 
over College has accomplished a great and important work. The 
whole number of alumni, including the graduates of the present 
year, is 236. Of this number, 136 are ministers of the Gospel, or 
candidates for the sacred office. One-third of the remaining hundred 
are lawyers, one-fourth teachers and professors, one-eighth physi- 
cians, and the others farmers, merchants, engineers, and editors. 
By adding irregular students, these figures would be largely in- 
creased. Not less than one thousand young men have pursued their 
studies for a longer or shorter period at this institution, most of 
whom (as far as alive), are occupying positions of honour and use- 
fulness.* 

What is to be the future history of the College, must depend under 
God upon the zeal, efficiency, and perseverance of its guardians and 
friends. If those who have it under their immediate charge are 
faithful to their trust, and if the churches in Indiana adhere to it 
with as much tenacity and liberality as in former years, its ultimate 
success will be certain. 

The location is remarkably healthy. The natural scenery is 
admired by all who behold it. Few places could provide an artist 
with a more favourable position to paint a beautiful landscape, than 
is furnished by the grounds and cupola of this College. The edifice 
itself is magnificent, and its plan and construction are all which 
either good taste or convenience can desire. The course of study 
compares favourably with the best eastern colleges. Religious and 
biblical instruction form a part of the regular college exercises. 
The community around are virtuous and intelligent. The arrange- 
ments for boarding bring the students under the daily influence of 
the domestic circle. An evangelical and edifying Gospel ministry 
is regularly enjoyed on the Sabbath. With the Divine blessing on 
these means of intellectual, moral, and spiritual culture, the students 
have as good an opportunity to prosecute their studies with success, 
and without injury to their manners and habits, as at any other 
college in our land. 

In entering upon the responsible office of President, I must acknow- 
ledge that I assume the obligations, and undertake the duties involved 
in the office, with much diffidence. Though I have had considerable 

* If it were expedient we might enter into details, having had access to an in- 
teresting manuscript history of the College, prepared at the request of the trustees, 
by the Rev. Dr. John Finley Crowe, who has been connected with the institution 
from its incipiency to the present time ; and with regard to all the important mea- 
sures which have contributed to make the College what it now is, Dr. Crowe might 
have said, quorum pars Jili. Some future historian may pen some facts which 
his modesty and humility prevented him from recording. The manuscript contains 

a deserved tribute t»> the memory of two excellent deceased Presidents, the Rev. 
Drs. James Blythe and Sylvester Scovelj and to the earliest and most liberal 
deceased benefactor, the lion, Williamson Dunn. 



29 

experience in the work of education, my past experience has not 
diminished my conviction of the difficulties which may be expected 
in such a position. Yet I do not despair of success. With the co- 
operation of my respected brethren of the Faculty, the board of 
trustees, and the alumni of the College, of the citizens of Hanover, 
and the ministers and churches of Indiana, and above all with the 
needed assistance of the Holy Spirit, whose gracious aid I would 
earnestly invoke, my hope is that this College will be placed, ere 
long, on a firm and permanent basis ; and that those who have 
hitherto toiled and prayed for its prosperity, will be permitted to 
realize, with joy and gratitude to God, their most sanguine desires 
and expectations. 

Let past difficulties and providential interpositions encourage 
your faith ; and let your past and present successes excite you to in- 
creased zeal and liberality. The venerable Dr. Wilson once remarked 
to his Session in our presence, with regard to the New Albany 
Theological Seminary, " You had better contribute one-half of your 
property, than permit the Seminary to go down." We repeat this 
remark : " Better give half of your property, than permit Hanover 
College to go down." Will the Indiana clergymen allow it to go 
down ? Their generous subscriptions to its funds answer emphati- 
cally, No. One-tenth of the $100,000 subscribed to the permanent 
fund, and one-fourth of the $25,000 subscribed to the contingent 
fund, have been subscribed by ministers of the Gospel. Will the 
Indiana churches suffer it to go down ? Their prayers and tears, 
and their generous contributions, respond emphatically, No. Will 
the alumni, and other old students, permit it to go down ? More 
than a thousand voices promptly and unitedly respond, No : Hano- 
ver College live forever ! And while this response is echoed 
and re-echoed through our entire literary and religious community, 
let all join in fervent supplication to God, that he will smile on the 
administration now inaugurated, and make it a rich blessing to the 
present and succeeding generations. 



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